Democrats’ playground politics trample on the will of voters

From Supreme Court nominations to healthcare, it doesn’t take a high IQ to figure out that nobody, in what is supposed to be our nation’s most deliberative body, got the memo the American people sent in November. Do your job.

Today, Neil Gorsuch sat on the high court for his first day hearing cases as a justice of the Supreme Court, despite the petty politics going on in the Capitol.

The Democrat’s recent decision to filibuster an eminently qualified Supreme Court nominee and force Republicans to employ the nuclear option to confirm Gorsuch is a perfect example of what can best be described as playground politics at its lowest, and if President Trump and the new Republican-controlled Congress are going to deliver on their ambitious agenda then they should know there won’t be any help from Democrats — they’ve taken their marbles and gone home.

{mosads}Gorsuch was about as qualified a candidate as you could find.  There were no skeletons or smoking guns that emerged during his hearing; just an even-tempered, poised man. His only flaw? He was appointed by President Trump.

On the Rachel Maddow show in January, Rachel asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) if there will be consequences for Republicans “stealing” a Supreme Court seat because they failed to consider Merrick Garland, whom President Obama nominated in March of 2016.

“It’s hard for me to imagine a nominee that Donald Trump would choose that would get Republican support that we could support. So you’re right,” he responded. “And so you will do your best to hold the seat open?” asked Maddow.  “Absolutely,” Schumer said.  

This is the same Sen. Schumer who in July 2007 said that no Supreme Court nominee from President Bush should be approved 19 months before the inauguration of a new president. “We should not confirm any Bush nominee to the Supreme Court, except in extraordinary circumstances,” said Schumer.

It’s baffling why Gorsuch is the battle they would pick, forcing the nuclear option to be invoked when, as early as this summer, there could be a second vacancy on the court. A vacancy that could actually shift the dynamic of the court, unlike the Gorsuch seat.

Playground politics.  

The American people sent a clear message that what they care about is the hit their wallets are taking due to increased taxes over the last eight years, premium increases of 25 percent this year under ObamaCare, our national security, and the tremendous overreach into our freedoms and religious liberties under the last administration.

One out five general election voters told exit polls the Supreme Court was “the most important factor” in their vote for president, and 57 percent of those voters went for Trump.  Understanding the next president would likely be responsible for appointing two, and possibly three, Supreme Court justices is what made conservatives, particularly evangelical conservatives who were uncomfortable with candidate Trump, comfortable enough to make him President Trump.  

According to the Pew Research Center, 81 percent of white evangelical Christians voted for President Trump, and 58 percent of “protestant/other Christians” voted for President Trump. That’s more than a Republican presidential nominee received since George W. Bush in 2004, when he garnered 59 percent of the “protestant/other Christian” vote, but only 78 percent of the white evangelical Christian vote.

If his first selection of Gorsuch is any guide, the next Supreme Court nominee under Trump will likely be a well-qualified individual who takes an originalist view of the Constitution and won’t seek to rewrite it. It’s unlikely they’ll continue the severe overreach of the last eight years, but will work to protect constitutional rights such as our religious freedom instead of stripping it away.

But all signs point to Schumer continuing his playground pattern, now inexplicably tying needed reform to Trump releasing his tax returns. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

As for the Republicans, it appears they don’t fully grasp that this election was different, either. They ran on repealing ObamaCare, as the program is literally in danger of collapsing, and the American people handed them the Senate, House, and White House.  That, combined with having six years to figure out an affordable replacement and they still aren’t able to get the job done.

Continuing to live in their little bubble and go about business as usual and engage in their own version of playground politics will no longer work. For many Americans the stakes have never been higher. Excuses and rhetoric no longer stand a chance. If Republicans fail to get to work they will find themselves out of work in the next election cycle.  

People are tired of having their freedoms trampled on and their wallets hijacked. They want their elected officials in Washington to stop whining, get off the playground and do their job.

Lauren DeBellis Appell was a press assistant for Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and deputy press secretary for his successful 2000 re-election campaign, as well as assistant communications director for the Senate Republican Policy Committee (2001-2003).

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